Social media applications come and go faster than most of us can imagine. We are all familiar with Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and WhatsApp. We probably use them at least once a day but here is one new app that is taking social media by storm. The funny thing is that it is not even new at all! TikTok (or Musical.ly as it used to be known) was launched in 2014 by Chinese entrepreneurs Alex Zhu and Luyu Yang. It is a place where people let their guard down, make whacky videos, lip sync to popular movie dialogues or songs and simply have fun with their friends. TikTok is a ‘do-it-yourself’ app where people shoot, edit and produce short format (up to 15 second) videos. These often consist of dances, challenges, skits, comedy, pranks and stunts. These can include music, sound and fancy visual effects. Users are also able to post ‘duets’, which means their clip will play on the left side of the screen simultaneously with another they have selected. It is easy to use, interactive and as a user on the app, I can tell you that it is pretty addictive!

TIKTOK – A CLOSER LOOK

Owned by ByteDance, TikTok has about 260 million users in India and 800 million worldwide, according to Sensor Tower. Celebrity endorsers include Tiger Shroff, Shahid Kapoor, Disha Patani and Jacqueline Fernandez. Largely targeted at teenagers and young adults, TikTok in India has maximum users aged between 13 and 25. Apart from English and Hindi, it has been seeing traction in regional language content including Tamil, Telugu, Kannada, Marathi, and Punjabi. TikTok is only available on mobile devices. The app focuses solely on video content.

BRANDS ON TIKTOK

Brands in India such as Myntra, Vivo India, Clean & Clear and Shaadi.com have advertised on TikTok. Vivo India did a ‘#GoPop’ challenge where users had to show their transformation from boring to cool while doing the Vivo ‘V’ dance step. The best ones stood a chance to win a brand new Vivo V15 Pro. Clean & Clear conducted the ‘unbottleapnaswag’ campaign targeted at the girls on TikTok where they had to pick one of the 5 rap songs by the brand and lip sync to it.

Internationally, fashion brand Guess partnered with TikTok for the #InMyDenim challenge that urged users to post videos on how they would style their denim. Multinational beverage brand, Coca-Cola conducted the #shareacoke challenge where users had to create a video lip syncing to Jason Derulo’s ‘Riding’ Solo, Florida’s ‘I don’t like, I love it’ or ‘Taste the feeling’ by Avicii vs Conrad Sewell. Sony Pictures partnered on a campaign to promote the movie “Escape Room”. They came up with a challenge for TikTok users to record their experiences of solving puzzles that unlocked escape rooms like those shown in the movie. Other brands that have run advertising campaigns on TikTok include Nike, ABC, and Google.

HOW CAN BRANDS DRIVE ENGAGEMENT ON TIKTOK?

Hashtag Challenges

A defining aspect of TikTok is the ‘hashtag challenge’ element. Challenges are a great way to snowball content into viral video memes that also end up in other platforms like Instagram and Twitter. Brands have used hashtag challenges as one of the best ways to market their products. All it takes is an interesting concept and a few of the platform’s top creators to attract attention and encourage more people to engage with the challenge. This is where brands can encourage users to create content around a particular theme. A simple hashtag challenge, which includes four sponsored videos, can generate over 1.3 million video views and further translate into 171,000 engagements with the target audience.

Brand Takeover

Apart from hashtag challenges, a brand takeover is also another option. This takeover will appear immediately when somebody opens the app, so it needs to be highly captivating to ensure users do not look to immediately skip, or worse, close the app entirely. Brand takeover is a gateway for digital traffic and with full screen vertical display, it will help advertisers take a dominant visual position to achieve brand exposure.

In-feed Native

In-feed native video ad formats are more immersive and interactive. These include in-feed promotions that promote and link to content on the app. This format has worked well on Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn to help them seamlessly present both user-generated and sponsored content. The same format can be applied on TikTok for brands that are looking to drive specific actions – whether it is to raise awareness, encourage further engagement or actually drive sales.

Brand Lens

Lenses have worked extremely well for Snapchat and are an excellent way to get people to interact with a brand, culminating in integration into clips that can generate millions of views, increasing exposure. TikTok has various easy-to-use lenses designed for the new generation of creators. For example, 2D facial lens, multi-screen lens, raindrop control lens, hair dye lens and cosmetic lens. This gives brands an instant connection with the target audience.

THE MUSIC ELEMENT

Music is at the heart of TikTok. Picking a popular song or jingle can be the primary reason a video goes viral. All videos play automatically on the main feed with the sound on. TikTok has a huge library of officially-licensed songs which users incorporate in their videos. However, if someone’s copyright-protected work was posted on the app without authorization, the copyright owner may submit a copyright infringement notification. TikTok has a content identification system, a technical measure to protect copyright. They have also set up a “Notice and Take Down” mechanism in order to protect the right of copyright owners.

CONTENT MODERATION

With the average user between the ages of 13 and 25, recently, there has been some concern from parents that their children could be exposed to adult-themed content. There is no way to split content between younger and older users but TikTok has a moderation team which helps in filtering and removing any inappropriate content. In India, the moderation team covers major Indian languages, including Hindi, Tamil, Telugu, Bengali, Gujarati and more.

SHOULD YOUR BRAND BE ON TIKTOK?

TikTok can be an effective platform for brands that are looking to increase engagement with younger audiences. It also works well for brands who want to get their products featured as a prop in a viral challenge, encouraging users to buy the product if they want to join in. However, do note that TikTok has a young audience. So, it might not be beneficial for brands who are looking to sell expensive items. TikTok enables everyone to be a creator and inspires users to share videos even from the most remote town in the country. For marketers, this translates into easily reaching an audience that was harder to tap otherwise. Brands looking to reach out to this audience are likely to benefit by being on this platform.

(With inputs from Sachin Sharma, Head, Ad Sales and Customer Support, ByteDance India)